First phone with Qualcomm’s flagship chip is from a company you’ve never heard of

LAS VEGAS — Qualcomm announced at CES Tuesday that the first smartphone to pack its flagship Snapdragon 820 processor will be the Letv Le Max Pro.

Wait, who? If you’ve heard of Letv (pronounced L-E-T-V) at all, you know it’s a large Chinese Internet video company, but not traditionally a smartphone maker. That changed recently when it debuted a line of smartphones under the “Le” brand.

With the Snapdragon 820, Letv is clearly hoping to make some noise in the market with a flagship-level phone. Besides the top-of-the-line Qualcomm chip, the Le Max Pro will also be the first device with Qualcomm’s much-hyped Sense ID fingerprint sensor. Sense ID uses ultrasound to capture a much more accurate picture of your fingertip – even when it’s wet. Read more...